Throughout Scripture, the "kingdom" is portrayed as that realm wherein God rules and reigns. While yet to be manifested in a coming "regeneration" or "restoration of all things" (Matt. 19:28; Acts 3:21), the divine reign (kingdom) is presently evidenced in "righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom. 14:17). Apart from a spiritual "new birth" one neither "sees" (i.e., comprehends) nor experiences its reality (John 3:3,6).
The foregoing factors into the Gospel account of a somewhat sympathetic scribe who, upon observing Jesus in debate with the Sadducees and Pharisees, as well as Herodians (King Herod's partisans), enters into the discussion with a question of his own: "Which is the greatest of the commandments?"
Given Christ's answer that the commandment of highest priority is to love God in a total commitment of self and that the second is to love others as oneself, the scribe's response likely caught his listeners by surprise: "Well said, Master!... For to love [God] with all one's heart, understanding and strength and to love one's neighbor as himself, is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices" (Mark 12:28-34). One can little imagine the Pharisees and Sadducees as viewing their relationship to others in terms of greater significance than the ostentatious observances of ritualistic "piety" to which they were much committed.
(In principle, the scribe's answer bore striking resemblance to Jesus' earlier parable of the Good Samaritan [Luke 10:30-27]. We all know the story. Journeying from Jerusalem to the "clergy bedroom community" of Jericho, a priest and a Levite encounter an individual in need. On their way home from having "conducted services" at the Temple, they are unmoved by the man's plight. After all, their "spiritual" duties and status place them on a level of more important concerns. From our Lord's perspective, however, it is the "ungodly half breed" Samaritan who, in stopping to help the unfortunate man, gains divine approbation.)
To those present, Jesus' endorsement of the scribe's answer must have seemed equally surprising: "You are not far; Christ declared, "from the kingdom!" In other words, "You are on the verge of grasping what it is all about" - "loving God; loving each other," to quote the popular Gospel song.
Funny, is it not, that our Lord did not mention meeting the annual budget or promoting our sectarian agenda? Perhaps we need to do some rethinking here.
Burl Ratzsch
